Briarcraft's history is actually much more tangled than that. To put it very briefly Briarcraft was established in May, 1932 when Bernard M. Shoemaker (who was treasurer and merchandise manager of WDC at the time) left his job to start his own pipe business. Shoemaker acquired a small pipe manufacturer called R. Kliethermes & Sons located in Spring Valley, NY.
Here's the Kliethermes backstory: Richard Kliethermes senior, an immigrant from Germany, arrived in Spring Valley in 1881 and became an employee (ultimately foreman) of a pipe factory owned by William Hyenga. In 1900 Richard senior (along with a partner named George W. Scott) acquired Hyenga's business and renamed it Scott & Kliethermes. Richard's sons (Richard Jr and William Kliethermes) became involved in the business, and after Scott sold out it was restyled R. Kliethermes & Sons. When their father died in 1925 the boys took over. When Shoemaker et al bought the Kliethermes brothers out in 1932 each stayed with the new company. Both died in the latter part of WW2.
A large part of the Kliethermes volume before the sale to Shoemaker, by the way, was contract work for Demuth; this strongly suggests the source of Shoemaker's familiarity with the business. In any case Shoemaker brought with him a veritable exodus of WDC employees who came to settle in Spring Valley and work at Briarcraft.
The business closed, incidentally, over a decade later than the date cited, shutting its doors on December 31, 1961. In a sidebar particularly timely today, Shoemaker blamed the closure on a lack of approval of protective tariffs which had been recommended by a commission set up to evaluate the issue. The tariffs, if imposed, would have insulated American pipe manufacturers from foreign competition which benefited from drastically cheaper labor costs.
The Tuffy was one of many models produced by the firm; priced at $1 it was situated at the lower end of the company's range. The big sellers for Briarcraft were the Smokemaster models, followed by the various Sterling Halls. Some of the other models they produced over the years include the Convoy, Briarcraft Hand Made, Strand, Briarmeer De Luxe, and Bulldozer,
